More than half of American respondents said in a new survey that they have faced online harassment and hate.
An Anti-Defamation League (ADL) release published Wednesday found that reports of online hate and harassment have reached a record high since 2020.
ADL’s 2023 research shows 52 percent of respondents have experienced online harassment or hate, a significant increased from the 40 percent recorded in last year’s report.
“We’re confronted with record levels of hate across the internet, hate that too often turns into real violence and danger in our communities,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “The time for talking, and for planning, is long over. It’s time to execute on the priorities set out by the White House and other policymakers, and it’s time for big tech companies to deliver on their promises to reduce hate online.”
The ADL also found that the reports increased across all demographics — but especially those in the LGTBQ community, particularly transgender people. More than three-quarters of transgender people said that they have been harassed online, with 60 percent saying they were harassed severely.
The survey also found that other groups reported high levels of harassment, including 51 percent of teenagers saying that they experienced some form of harassment in the last 12 months. Additionally, 47 percent of LGBTQ people, 38 percent of Black people and 38 percent of Muslims also reported that they were harassed online in the last 12 months.
Eighty percent of Jewish people also reported that they were worried about being harassed for their religion, a stark difference from the 40 percent of non-Jewish people who reported the same answer.
The report also called for social media platforms to curtail online hate and harassment, asking them to enact “strong policies against hate and harassment and enforce them transparently, equitably, and at scale.”
ADL Vice President Yael Eisenstat said in a statement that harassment on social media is only “getting worse.”
“This is happening as the platforms continue to scale back their content moderation teams,” Eisenstat said. “It is time for social media companies to truly protect users against hate, and for policymakers to require transparency reporting and data disclosures on how these companies are actually enforcing their own rules.”
The survey was conducted on behalf of the ADL by YouGov. It includes responses from 2,139 American adults between March 7-24, as well as responses from 550 teenagers aged 13 to 17 between March 23 and April 6.